Board

Maurice Saatchi graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1967 with First Class Honours in Economics. He won the MacMillan Prize for Sociology in that year. He was the co-founder of Saatchi & Saatchi and is now a partner in M&C Saatchi. He is a Governor of the London School of Economics and a Director of the Centre for Policy Studies.

Norman Blackwell served as Head of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit under John Major from 1995-97, and was previously a member of Margaret Thatcher's Policy Unit in 1986 -87. After graduating from Cambridge with a first class degree in Natural Sciences, he went on to gain both an MBA and a Ph.D in Finance and Economics from the Wharton Business School.

George Bridges works for the strategic communications firm Quiller Consultants. He was previously Campaign Director for the Conservative Party, and was responsible for the Party’s media, political and campaign operations. Before that, he was Chairman of the Conservative Research Department. Between 1994 and 1997 he worked in Downing Street as Assistant Political Secretary to the Prime Minister.

Niall Ferguson, MA, D.Phil., is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and William Ziegler Professor at Harvard Business School. He is also a Senior Research Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford University, and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is the author of, inter alia, ‘Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World’.

Sir Rocco Forte is Chairman and Chief Executive of The Rocco Forte Collection, the luxury hotel company that he founded in 1996.  The Rocco Forte Collection includes luxury Hotels all over the world. and the company has won dozens of awards for both its service and the design of its hotels, which is overseen by Sir Rocco’s sister, Olga Polizzi.Sir Rocco was formerly Chairman and Chief Executive of Forte Plc.

Michael Heller is Chairman of London and Associated Properties and Deputy Chairman of the CPS. During a successful business career spanning more than three decades he has served on the boards of some of the UK's most important companies: he has variously been the chief executive of KP, a main board director of United Biscuits and a chairman of the United Biscuits pension fund.

Tessa Keswick became a Deputy Chairman of the Centre for policy Studies in January 2004, having been the Executive Director since 1995.  She joined CPS after serving as a Special Policy Advisor to the Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke QC MP form 1989-1995.  During that time she worked at the department of State for Health, the department of Education and Science, the Home office and HM Treasury.

Andrew Knight is Chairman of J Rothschild Capital Management and a Director of News Corporation. He was Editor of The Economist 1974-1986, Chief Executive and Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Telegraph 1986-1989, and Chairman of News International and Times Newspapers 1990-1995. He is Founder Trustee of the SMA Trust (Spinal Muscular Atrophy); was Founder Chairman of Shipston Home Nursing; Trustee V&A.

Jon Moulton, Chairman of Better Capital, was until recently Managing Partner of Alchemy, a UK-based private equity firm, which invested £2 billion of equity with an emphasis on dealing with troubled companies. Alchemy also has a £300m European special opportunities fund investing principally in distressed debt. He is a Chartered Accountant, a CF and Fellow of the Institute for Turnaround Professionals.

Fraser Nelson is Editor of The Spectator. A journalist for 15 years, he started as a business correspondent for The Times and was political editor for The Scotsman before joining The Spectator in 2006 as the magazine's Political Editor. Fraser gave the 2010 Keith Joseph Memorial Lecture for the Centre for Policy Studies and lives in Twickenham with his wife and son.

The Marquess of Salisbury was elected the Conservative Member of Parliament for South Dorset in 1979 and served until 1987, when he did not stand for re-election.  During these eight years he was particularly interested in foreign affairs, constitutional affairs and Northern Ireland. He was summoned to the Upper House as Baron Cecil of Essendon, in the County of Rutland, by a Writ of Acceleration in 1992. 

Richard Sharp has over thirty years of experience in finance, having spent over twenty years at Goldman Sachs.  Richard was most recently Chairman of Goldman Sachs’ Principal Investment Area in Europe, with responsibility for European Private Equity and Mezzanine Funds. Richard is Chairman of the Royal Academy Trust and has been involved with the Royal Academy of Arts since 2004.